Gershom Scholem (1897–1982) was ostensibly a scholar of Jewish
mysticism, yet he occupies a powerful role in today’s intellectual
imagination, having influential contact with an extraordinary cast of
thinkers, including Hans Jonas, Martin Buber, Walter Benjamin, Hannah
Arendt, and Theodor Adorno. In this first biography of Scholem, Amir
Engel shows how Scholem grew from a scholar of an esoteric discipline
to a thinker wrestling with problems that reach to the very
foundations of the modern human experience. As
Engel shows, in his search for the truth of Jewish mysticism Scholem
molded the vast literature of Jewish mystical lore into a rich
assortment of stories that unveiled new truths about the modern
condition. Positioning Scholem’s work and life within early
twentieth-century Germany, Palestine, and later the state of Israel,
Engel intertwines Scholem’s biography with his historiographical
work, which stretches back to the Spanish expulsion of Jews in 1492,
through the lives of Rabbi Isaac Luria and Sabbatai Zevi, and up to
Hasidism and the dawn of the Zionist movement. Through parallel
narratives, Engel touches on a wide array of important topics
including immigration, exile, Zionism, World War One, and the creation
of the state of Israel, ultimately telling the story of the
realizations—and failures—of a dream for a modern Jewish
existence.
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Produktdetaljer
ISBN
9780226428772
Publisert
2018
Utgave
1. utgave
Utgiver
Vendor
University of Chicago Press
Språk
Product language
Engelsk
Format
Product format
Digital bok
Forfatter